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Washington Capitals To Meet Montreal Canadiens In First Round Of 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs

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Washington Capitals To Meet Montreal Canadiens In First Round Of 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs


Photo: Newsday

After a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at Bell Centre on Wednesday, the Montreal Canadiens clinched the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and will play the Washington Capitals, the top seed in the conference, in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Washington, who is currently 51-21-9 (.685 points percentage) and finish the regular season at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (7 PM ET, ESPN), went 2-0-1 in three games against Montreal during the regular season, including a 6-3 win at Capital One Arena on October 31 and 4-2 victory at Bell Centre on December 7 despite trailing in each game.

The team finished first in the East a year after qualifying for the postseason as the second wild-card via the second tie breaker (32 regulation wins to 27) despite tying the Detroit Red Wings with 91 points.

Left-wing Alex Ovechkin’s 43 goals and 1.13 points-per-game (72 in 64) lead Washington despite the fact that he missed 16 games in November and December with a broken leg. Center Dylan Strome leads the team with career-highs in assists (52) and points (81) in 81 contests.

Goaltender Logan Thompson went 31-6-6 with a .910 save percentage, 2.49 goals-against average, and two shutouts this season, including going 1-0-1 with an .889 save percentage in two games against the Canadiens.

The Capitals may start the series without Thompson (upper-body injury; has not played since April 2) and Aliaksei Protas (lower-body; April 4).

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Montreal, who will qualify for the postseason for the first time since losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, has won eight of their last 11 games with one more to go in the regular season and a 40-31-11 record (.555 points percentage). They are 29-15-8 (.635) since starting 11-16-3.

Center Nick Suzuki leads Montreal with 89 points, at least 18 more than any other Canadien, in 82 outings. Suzuki and rookie defenseman Lane Hutson co-lead the team with 60 assists. Right-wing Cole Caufield has a team-leading 37 goals.

Goaltender Sam Montembeault entered Wednesday 30-24-7 with a .901 save percentage, 2.83 goals-against average, and four shutouts in 61 games this season. He gave up four goals on 35 shots (.886) in Montreal’s 4-2 loss to Washington on December 7, the only appearance he made against the Capitals this season.

Montreal beat Washington in seven games during the first round of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the eighth seed in the East in their only prior postseason meeting despite trailing the series 3-1. Washington won the Presidents’ Trophy with the NHL’s best regular-season record that season.

The NHL has yet to release the series schedule.

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All eight series for the first round are locked. The others are the:

  • second-seeded Carolina Hurricanes against the third-seeded New Jersey Devils in the Metropolitan Division
  • Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs against the first wild-card Ottawa Senators
  • second-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning vs. the third-seeded Florida Panthers in the Atlantic
  • First-seeded Winnipeg Jets vs. second wild-card St. Louis Blues in the Central
  • second-seeded Dallas Stars vs. third-seeded Colorado Avalanche in the Central
  • First-seeded Vegas Golden Knights vs. first wild-card Minnesota Wild in the Pacific
  • second-seeded Los Angeles Kings and third-seeded Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific

By Harrison Brown

About Harrison Brown

Harrison is a diehard Caps fan and a hockey fanatic with a passion for sports writing. He attended his first game at age 8 and has been a season ticket holder since the 2010-2011 season. His fondest Caps memory was watching the Capitals hoist the Stanley Cup in Las Vegas. In his spare time, he enjoys travel, photography, and hanging out with his two dogs. Follow Harrison on Twitter @HarrisonB927077





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Holdout Democrats leave WA House support for income tax in doubt

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Holdout Democrats leave WA House support for income tax in doubt


The votes weren’t there yet late Wednesday for Democrats’ income tax bill in the Washington state House.Democratic members are withholding support for the proposed income tax on millionaires, saying they want to see if a new version of the controversial legislation, possibly due out Thursday, will satisfy their concerns.



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Bill strengthening Washington child sex abuse material laws focuses on consciousness, AI

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Bill strengthening Washington child sex abuse material laws focuses on consciousness, AI


A bill aimed at tightening Washington’s laws on child sex abuse material is headed to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk after clearing the Legislature unanimously.

King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said 2ESSB 5105 passed the House unanimously Tuesday night after the Senate unanimously approved it on Jan. 28, 2026.

SEE ALSO | Washington exempts clergy from reporting abuse learned in confession after settlement

Manion called the measure one of her public safety legislative priorities.

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“People who peddle in the misery of sexually abused children must be held accountable,” Manion said. “I am grateful for the work of Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Laura Harmon – both in prosecuting these cases and advocating for these legal fixes – and Senators Tina Orwall and Manka Dhingra for championing this legislation.”

Manion’s office said the current state law has gaps that can prevent prosecutors from holding offenders accountable in some cases.

Under current law, prosecutors cannot charge defendants for creating images of child sex abuse unless the child victim was conscious or knew they were being recorded.

The office also said that possessing sexually explicit fabricated (AI) images of non-identifiable minors is not considered child sex abuse material under Washington law.

The bill would update RCW 9.68A.040 to remove the requirement that a child be aware of an abusive recording. It would also update the definition of child sex abuse material to include fabricated (AI) images of non-identifiable minors.

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The legislation would also increase the statute of limitations to 10 years for depiction crimes. Manion’s office said the current statute of limitations is three years, and argued that because the images can remain online indefinitely, victims can be re-traumatized for decades.



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Utah Starts Road Trip with Win in Washington | Utah Mammoth

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Utah Starts Road Trip with Win in Washington | Utah Mammoth


Both of Utah’s power play units scored in the win. Sergachev scored his 10th goal of the season on the power play 13 and a half minutes into the first period. Peterka scored his 21st of the season, on the man-advantage, in the final two minutes of the middle frame. 

Peterka has three power play goals in the 2025-26 campaign while Sergachev has matched a career-high with five power play goals this season. Overall, Utah’s power play has scored six goals in the last six games. That output matches the Mammoth’s total from their previous 18 games (per Mammoth PR). Tourigny discussed what’s changed with the team’s performance in recent games.

“(The) puck gets in,” Tourigny laughed. “But, no, I think there’s a number of things. The most important thing is we’re aggressive. We’re attacking.

“…If you look at our goal, the first one, it’s a direct play to the net and then on the loose puck recovery we take a shot with traffic and we score,” Tourigny continued. “On the second one, it’s a slot pass, a great shot by (Peterka). I think we had that attack mindset.”

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Guenther, who is on the Mammoth’s top power play unit, agreed with Tourigny’s assessment of attacking more.

“I think just attacking, less predictable,” Guenther explained. “Shooting it more, I think (it is) just work really. Trying to play like a 5-on-5 mindset but on the (power play).”

The Mammoth made several line changes for tonight’s game and the new lines started to find chemistry, despite it being the first game with these changes. 

“I like them,” Tourigny said of the changes. “Obviously (Guenther) got a goal, but Cooley’s line was really good. I was looking at the expected goals at the end, I think they were above 90%. So that’s pretty, pretty awesome. Then I think (Barrett Hayton’s) line worked really hard. They’re heavy on pucks and they play well defensively. I did like (Michael Carcone’s) line in (the) previous three games, and I did like them again tonight.”

When Washington pushed back with a power play goal and multiple close chances in the third period, Utah fought hard against the momentum swing to secure the win. 

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“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Keller explained. “Weathering the storm as much as we could. They’re a great veteran team. They made it hard on us. They pressured us all over the ice, but I was proud of the way we fought there towards the end.”

Utah’s bench was positive and calm throughout the game, especially late in the third. This helped the Mammoth through the momentum swings. Keller, who had two assists in the win, was one of the key voices for the Mammoth.

“He’s one of the guys who was really positive on the bench,” Tourigny explained. “(All the players) were but (Keller) was really vocal. He was really good energy on the bench. So that was really good.”

Additional Notes from Tonight (per Mammoth PR)

  • Guenther had two points in the win (1G, 1A) and the forward has earned a team-high nine points (5G, 4A) through six road games in 2026. He has become the third Mammoth skater to reach the 50-point mark this season (28G, 23A) and established a new career-high in goals.
  • Sergachev has 18 power play points this season (5G, 13A) and is tied with Keller for the team lead this season.
  • Keller has recorded multiple primary assists in a game for the seventh time this season and the 27th time in his NHL career. He has now tallied multiple points in four of his last six contests (2G, 8A), with three multi-assist outings over that span.

The Mammoth continue their five-game road trip in Philadelphia on Thursday night. Game time is 5 p.m. MT and available to watch on Mammoth+ and Utah16.

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